Vortex flow control devices, such as vortex valves, are used to control flow through stormwater drainage systems. For example, vortex valves are often used to regulate flow from an upper catchment area to a lower catchment area. The valves help to balance the risk of flooding between the catchment areas.
Vortex valves are particularly advantageous compared with conventional flow regulators because they have no moving parts. Furthermore, flow regulation is effected by the throttling effect produced by a vortex generated within the valve. Vortex valves can therefore provide a flow restriction which is comparable to a much smaller orifice, while being less susceptible to blockage by debris entrained by the flow.
A drawback of vortex valves is that the performance of a valve is difficult to predict. Furthermore, the performance of the valve is dependent on interrelated aspects of the geometry of the valve. It is therefore difficult to configure a vortex valve to produce desired performance characteristics over an expected range of operating conditions. Typically, the geometry of a valve having known characteristics is scaled to meet a specific operating condition. Such valves do not provide optimum performance characteristics over all operating conditions.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved method of configuring vortex flow control devices such as vortex valves to provide improved performance characteristics.